Sunday, January 19, 2014

Chilaquiles

I am wooed today by
offers of Old Holland Yellow Green (a tube of oil paint at the art store),
sizzling seafood (a fragrant platter through the window of a Chinese
restaurant), striped rubber boots (for children playing in the rain, or in the
shallows at Shoreline, chasing the bobbing coots), a Siamese kitten sooty and
possessed of an old soul.

I take my
chilaquiles to campus, and finding the Rodin sculpure garden all in shade,
settle for a picnic table in the sun near the old Chemistry building.I haven’t had chilaquiles since I fell
in love with them that Thanksgiving in Cancun, herding Slavic scholars to the
Temple of the Jaguar and walking and walking on the turquoise shore.

But longer than the
happy elements­—the Old English
Sheepdog having his ears rubbed; the gluten-free baker with his earring singing
along to “Puff, the Magic Dragon” while I watched the rounds of cornmeal masa being rolled and grilled and filled with
meat or cheese—I’m carrying the annoyance with me of having been jostled by a
rude teenager with two half-gnawed ice-cream cones;being treated as not important, or invisible.She had to be aware that I was standing
there, out of her way, but didn’t care.I’m still unduly ruffled by such a small thing.

Eventually the good
Oaxacan spices and the sun between the oaks soothe my uncharitable soul.Coffee, bicycles, academics dogwalking,
the thought of Santa Cruz—the day is untroubled again.

2 comments:

some of your posts are like taking a lovely little trip.this one was!have never had chilaquiles. it looks wonderful.and the rude teenager... that kind of thing stays with me too.these are the people inheriting the world?the older i become the more invisible i become. interesting.

It’s a struggle I’ve had all my life—to be quiet and true to myself without being overwhelmed by those who are noisier and more “out there.” In my writing, too. In their defense, the younger generations have little encouragement or opportunity to be mindful in the real world, ruled as they are by their distracting and offputting electronic devices.